I recently went for a scuba diving holiday in Malta with Maltaqua. To make it most convenient for the diving, we were based in St Paul’s Bay, which wasn't the prettiest! As part of this trip, we had a few days which were free of diving so we could go enjoy a few day trips instead. Here’s a few of day trip ideas for exploring Malta, as well as a few extra recommendations at the end.
Mdina / Rabat
Mdina is well worth a couple of hours. Just the view on the approach to the city is beautiful. This is what I was expecting from Malta (rather than St Paul’s Bay), very old picturesque white/orangey stone houses. And with Mdina and Rabat bordering each other, the two make a great 2 for the price of 1 day trip. We passed through the great Mdina Gate, then wandered aimlessly through the many labyrinth-like streets for a couple of hours, followed by Rabat to see some bones and finally ended our day with a pastry.
The place from all the photos on Instagram- the Blue Mdina Door.
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| Image: Adobe |
Gelato from For di Latee. There are two places to get this delicious ice cream, one right next to the Mdina Gate and one at the far end of the city.
Pastizzi are traditional pastries which normally contain either ricotta-like cheese or mushed up peas. Pastizzi (I recommend the chicken which was actually more like a chicken curry) from Is-Serkin are some of the best- and cheapest- pastries in the whole of Malta, at ~50 cents each.
St Paul’s Catacombs to look at some tombs and learn more of the history of Malta. A first for our group- we took on more than we bargained for at St Paul’s Catacombs and got a bit museum-ed out! There were so so many tombs to visit. You could genuinely spend the whole day in this museum alone!
Valetta
I found Mdina more pretty than Valetta but Valetta is bigger with more to do and more tourist attractions. You can definitely spend more time in Valetta.
As soon as you walk through the city gates, right next to Café Teatro, there are the iconic picturesque white stone houses with green balconies which you’ve probably seen on the postcards.
The great views at the Barrakka Gardens. We started off at the Lower Barrakka Gardens then walked a short distance, taking the Barrakka lift with its panoramic views (at a cost of only 1 euro) up to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. The lower gardens had fewer tourists but with less actual garden. The upper garden had quite a pretty small garden and views out to sea from a higher vantage point. The views were equally nice but if you only have time for the one, it just depends whether you want your visit to be quieter or have a garden.
There are a few different boat trip options in Valetta. There is a larger sightseeing tour ran by the same company as the Hop On Hop Off buses which depart from the Selima Ferry Port on the West side of the peninsula. Alternatively there are small local boats which depart from the Eat side, near the Lascaris Water Taxi Station. We opted for one of the local traditional boats, which look like row boats but are actually speed boats in disguise. While the boats here are generally taxis, if you ask all the passing taxis for a harbour tour, you will eventually find a boat willing to give you a tour. You can’t book and make sure to confirm the price before setting off but the money goes directly to local people and these people are really knowledgeable and proud of their local waters. I’m really glad we went for this option!
Gozo
We took the ferry and headed to Gozo for our final day trip. Gozo is third recommendation for a day trip, following Mdina and Valetta.
The Citadel in Victoria made for a nice visit and some great views over Gozo. Don’t believe any of the ticketed entry signs because its free to visit- you only have to pay for the small museums dotted around the Citadel grounds. It was almost like a miniature version of Mdina, some great historic alleyways to explore.
One place I was really excited to visit was it-Tempji tal-Ġgantija, two neolithic temples, which are some of the world’s oldest monuments, older even than Stonehenge. The museum went through some of the myths surrounding the temples and I’d seen a documentary on Netflix about some of the conspiracy theories surrounding it!
Extras
A few extra things I did while in Malta or some extra bits and pieces that would have been on my list, all of which things that didn’t quite fit into the above day trip sections.
- Popeye Village. I was interested in seeing the brightly coloured Popeye Village, although there were many reviews (in 2023) that it was quite run down and best suited for family visits. I was however planning on making a visit to Anchor Bay Viewpoint to take some photos of Popeye Village, while avoiding the entry fees.
- Tarxien Temples, Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra to see some more ancient ruins.
- To have swam in the Blue Hole on Gozo.
- Mosta Rotunda would have made a great visit. It’s a round church which a bomb went right through the roof of and you can see the hole, as well as admiring the church.
- Go on a Game of Thrones tour because I’m a giant nerd!
- The underground war rooms at the Lascaris War Rooms in Valetta.
- Aside from pastizzi, some other must eats/drinks for me included: to drink the local beer Cisk (which can be found pretty much everywhere), drink Kinnie (the national soft drink), eat rabbit (in particular stuffer tal-Fenek) and eat imqarent (a pastry with a date filling).
We did a local wine and chocolate tasting at Malta Chocolate Factory in St Paul’s Bay. While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend a trip to St Paul’s Bay (there’s not so much there and it’s quite rundown looking), if you’re close to the area I definitely recommend a trip to the chocolate factory. We learned more at this tasting about the history of Malta than any of our museum tours combined! All washed down with plenty of wine and a few chocolates. A very fun group experience.
